1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording method, and particularly to a recording apparatus and a recording method in which a consumer electronic equipment such as a video tape recorder and an audio tape recorder or the like includes a program timer recording function.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to timer-record a program of a television broadcasting and/or to timer-record a program of a radio broadcasting, it is customary that a user might employ a program record timer apparatus in which a video tape recorder (hereinafter simply referred to as a VTR) or an audio tape recorder is rendered a program timer-recording function to record a program of a television broadcasting and/or to record a program of a radio broadcasting.
This program record timer apparatus enables the user to timer-record a desired program of a television broadcasting and/or to timer-record a desired program of a radio broadcasting by using a program timer. That is, the program record timer apparatus is adapted to timer-record a desired program of a television broadcasting and/or timer-record a desired program of a radio broadcasting based on information such as date, day of week, start time, channel and end time designated by the user.
Broadcast waves from a television broadcasting station, for example, are received at an antenna and supplied to a receiving circuit. The receiving circuit comprises a high-frequency amplifier and mixer, an intermediate-frequency amplifier and a detector, for example, and is adapted to receive a video signal and an audio signal of a program being broadcast. Then, the video signal and the audio signal are supplied to a recording unit, comprised of a recording circuit and a system control circuit, thereby being recorded on a magnetic tape.
A timer-recording unit comprises a setting operation unit which enables a user to set the above-mentioned entry information, a memory unit for memorizing the entry information, a clock circuit for generating present time information, a coincidence detecting circuit for detecting whether or not a timer-recording start time, a timer-recording end time memorized in the memory unit are identical to the present time information, a recording drive circuit for supplying a recording drive signal to the system control circuit to energize a recording circuit to start the recording if the coincidence detecting circuit detects that the timer-recording start time and the present time information are coincident with each other and a recording stop circuit for supplying a recording stop signal to the system control circuit to deenergize the recording circuit to end the recording if the coincidence detecting circuit detects that the timer-recording end time and the present time information are coincident with each other.
When a user intends to timer-record a program of a television broadcasting by using the timer-recording function, if the user sets entry information such as day of week, start time, channel and end time of a desired program being recorded by the setting operation unit of the timer-recording unit, then the recording system control circuit controls the recording circuit so that the recording circuit automatically starts to record a desired program of channel being set at the start time of the day of week being set at a mode being set and ends the recording operation at the end time being set even though the user is not at home.
In this manner, according to the program timer-recording apparatus, the user should set the present date and time before the user enters information to program the timer-recording. However, it is customary that users in Southeast Asia remove the power supply cord of the apparatus from a plug socket during the apparatus is not in use such as when the users are sleeping or the like. Therefore, if the user had timer-recorded a desired program of a television broadcasting or a radio broadcasting which will be broadcast several days before, data being set would be lost. As a consequence, it becomes necessary for the user to set data to start the timer-recording a desired program on the day one more time. As described above, depending on the area, the user should enter unnecessary data and the operation becomes complicated.
Further, there is then the following disadvantage. That is, each time the apparatus should be powered, a menu picture should be displayed on the screen of the television receiver in an OSD (on-screen display) fashion and prior-preparations such as setting a tuner to adjust the reception should be made, thereby requiring plenty of time for timer-activated-recording a desired program.
Furthermore, a user should operate many keys such as a menu key for opening a menu picture, up-key, down-key, left-key and right-key capable of selecting a desired entry from the menu picture and an OK key for determining a selected entry or the like. Also, the user should depress keys many times and clear many sequential steps for timer-recording a desired program. In this case, a manual for timer-recording is indispensable to the user, and an operation procedure is considerably complicated for the user.
In view of the aforesaid aspect, it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus and a recording method in which a user becomes able to timer-record a desired program by operating less general-purpose keys.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus which is comprised of a receiving circuit for receiving a broadcast signal from a broadcasting station, a recording circuit for recording the broadcast signal, a timer setting circuit for setting a timer-recording of a broadcast signal of a desired program contained in the broadcast signal and a control unit for controlling the recording circuit such that the recording circuit records a broadcast signal of the desired program in response to the setting of the timer setting circuit, wherein the recording apparatus includes a normal timer setting mode and an easy timer setting mode.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method in which a broadcast signal is received from a broadcasting station and the broadcast signal is recorded. This recording method comprises a timer setting step for effecting a timer setting in order to timer-activated-record a broadcast signal of a desired program contained in the broadcast signal, and a recording step for recording the broadcast signal of the desired program in response to the setting at the timer setting step, wherein the timer setting step includes a normal timer setting mode and an easy timer setting mode and a timer setting value based on the easy timer setting mode and a timer setting value based on the normal timer setting mode are existing in a mixed state.